A WOMAN caused 'horrendous bruising' when she attacked her mother, a court was told.

Rose Giles, 45, of Wordsworth Crescent, Blacon, pleaded guilty at Chester Crown Court to inflicting grievous bodily harm on Joan Margaret Williams, 74, who is at the Countess of Chester Hospital but who will shortly move into a nursing home in the Chester area.

Meirion Lewis-Jones, prosecuting, said the incident happened on January 4 after Giles's partner Stephen had left the home where he and Giles had cared for Mrs Williams.

Mr Lewis-Jones said Mrs Williams, who suffered from a form of dementia and had suffered strokes, started asking for Giles's partner to return because she wanted to go to a party. He added that Mrs Williams started to become difficult and hit out with her walking stick.

Mr Lewis-Jones said: 'The defendant grabbed the stick and the complainant tumbled to the floor.'

He said that Giles struck her mother repeatedly and, after her partner returned to the house, an ambulance was called - five days after the assault.

Mr Lewis-Jones said: 'The defendant accepts the injuries were caused by her mother falling or by the assault.'

Mr Recorder Milwyn Jarman QC said: 'All I can see in the bundle of photographs is an elderly lady with horrendous bruising over her face, body and arms.'

Mr Lewis-Jones said a medical report stated that Mrs Williams had 32 areas of bruising, most of which were relatively recent.

He added there was also extensive bruising to her neck but there was no evidence of strangulation.

Mr Lewis-Jones said Mrs Williams was taken to a nursing home by taxi three days a week but when the taxi driver called to pick her up on January 3 - the day before the assault - he was told she had 'gone down south'.

The same day, Giles went to play bingo at the Blacon Community Centre and on January 9, an ambulance was called after a report that Mrs Williams was having difficulty in breathing.

Mr Lewis-Jones said when paramedics arrived, Mrs Williams was bruised to such an extent they could not tell what colour she was.

Giles told them: 'It's me. I have been thumping her.'

She clenched her fist, started crying and said: 'It's got to be said I hit her. I have been thumping her.'

Giles told the police her mother had fallen downstairs and struck her head against a radiator.

Simon Christie, defending, said that in her life, Giles had been the victim of violence but had never before been the perpetrator.

Mr Christie said: 'This was the one occasion when matters got too much for her and a red mist descended. The photographs are shocking and have been unbelievably distressing to the defendant.'

He added that Giles had not used all the force at her disposal and it was unfortunate that she had not been given more support relating to her mother.

Mr Christie added that Giles's partner was very supportive. He said there was no evidence of any fractures and Giles had been 'devastated' by being remanded in custody at Styal prison for two months.

The recorder said it was a very sad case and added: 'Any person looking at these photographs would feel nothing but revulsion.'

He said he accepted that Rose Giles had a difficult time living with her mother and had not been psychologically equipped to deal with her after her partner had left the home.

Mr Jarman said he was taking a wholly exceptional course in what was an exceptional case and placed her on probation for 18 months.

He added that if she had not spent two months in prison, a custodial sentence would have been inevitable.